Dry Ager Fridge Uk? Top Answer Update

Have you ever wondered why dried sausages were made?

We’re so used to enjoying fresh produce that it’s hard to imagine how we would organize it if we had to go without a fridge and freezer. People used to have many problems to enjoy fresh meat or fish all year round, especially in summer. For this reason, storage options for meat, fish, fruit and vegetables have been developed for times of the year when enjoyment would be impossible. For example, to be able to enjoy tomatoes in winter or fresh meat in summer.

The same goes for all kinds of preserves that we saw in our grandparents’ pantry, peppers in oil, cod, smoked products, syrup, jam… The pantry used to be the perfect place to keep them in the colder part of the house, under the Stairs and no window where the light came in. So in the absence of a fridge this was the best place to store groceries.

How to preserve dried sausages

The refrigerator is the new pantry

There are many ways to preserve sausages, but putting them in the fridge is the most effective. It is an ideal artificial version, very close to the former pantry. The healing process is slowed down in the refrigerator and you have the sausage longer at the ideal dry point.

Vacuum-packed sausages also belong in the refrigerator

With vacuum packaging, we lose the white fungus that covers the sausage. The fungus is born from contact with dry air, and when it is removed, the fungus is also eliminated. What we do with vacuum packaging is that the flavor stays stable longer, but we still always recommend vacuum packaging sausages in the fridge.

The filling can go in the freezer

Yes, the filling can go in the freezer. The goal is different than in the refrigerator, but it also retains its properties in the freezer. For example, the shelf life of a sausage is between 5 and 6 months, but if we want to keep the state of healing that it has at a certain point, the best thing is to freeze it.

Cold slows down and even stops the maturation and drying process of the sausage. Fridges and freezers are good choices when you know you’re going to be out for a few days without eating the sausage you already have at home. If you restore it, it will be at the same healing point.

We are heirs to a rich gastronomic culture that uses canned food in all its forms. At Pedragosa we like to experiment, try, create new recipes, innovate, but we don’t always look to the latest technologies, on the contrary, we look for recipes in old books in the family library to brining the best and most traditional sausages. It’s fun and tedious work, but from our knowledge we make the tastiest sausages with all the guarantees.

Here you will find a selection of old writings that inspire us to further refine our range of selected sausage products.

Most semi-hard and semi-hard cheeses require a constant temperature of between 10 and 14°C to ripen properly. So let’s answer some reader questions on the subject and share some cheese fridge tips.

This is the subject of today’s reader email. Sandra would like information about problems with cheese (also wine) refrigerators.

Hi Gavin, could you please tell me the brand of wine cooler you bought for your cheese? Did you have problems with the thermostat it contained, which kept a constant temperature – summer and winter? I have many problems with the Tempo 16 bottled wine cooler that I bought. I have my second Tempo wine cooler in two years. After 6 months the thermostats everywhere start floating – too hot most of the time – ruining my cheese. I mainly make Camembert, Blues, Farmers and Swiss cheeses. I would appreciate your help.

sandra

First of all, thank you Sandra for your email. I enjoy answering each and every one of my readers.

My cheese fridge model is a 28-bottle wine fridge, similar to yours. It is made by PAVO (I have no affiliation with that company). I have no idea if it’s good, bad or different. It has worked tirelessly in the 3.5 years that I have owned it.

However, I’ve discovered some interesting things about maintaining the temperature of these devices. They are not refrigerators at all and do not use normal refrigeration techniques. This type of refrigerator is a thermoelectric wine cooler and uses only 70 watts.

This type of refrigerator requires a room temperature below 75°F to function properly. You also need adequate ventilation and plenty of space behind it for it to function effectively. My cheese fridge has about 30 cm of free space on the sides and back. It is also located away from heat sources such as other refrigerators, ovens, stoves, etc.

I also keep a remote temperature and relative humidity sensor in the fridge just to keep an eye on it when I’m at my desk.

The last tip concerns the humidity. These types of refrigerators usually keep the air inside at around 40-50% RH, which is far too low for cheese making. I have found that by filling a 4 liter plastic tub with water and placing it on the bottom of the fridge the humidity rises to around 75% RH. That’s still a bit low for most cheeses, so I keep blue and mold cheeses in a separate container to ripen, which allows for much higher humidity.

I can age cheeses like Caerphilly and Farmhouse for the first month and then wax them before they split.

You can also reuse an old kitchen fridge with an external thermometer device. A longtime reader sent me this information.

Hi Gavin, I don’t know if you know, but there is an item that can turn a regular fridge into a cheese cave. I’ve read blogs from people here in the US using them and they say they work well. I haven’t read enough of your blog to know if you’ve seen them before, if so I’m sorry but thought if not you might be interested. I got this from the Cheesemaker.com website: JC Thermostat

Turn your fridge or freezer into a cheese cave. With this thermostat you can easily turn your fridge or freezer into a “cheese cave”. Simply plug the thermostat into your socket. Then connect your freezer or fridge to the thermostat and set the thermostat to any temperature between 20 and 80°F (6.6 to 26.6°C). Accuracy: +/- one degree F. 110-120 VAC. UL listed. This thermostat does not work on 220V. I have attached the picture that went with the description attached. Perhaps you can find the Australian equivalent and share it with your readers. Thanks again. Look forward to reading more from your blog! Sharon

Attached is a picture of the thermostat.

Hopefully I have given you and all other readers enough information to make your cheese aging a reality with one of these refrigerators.

If anyone has any other tips for maintaining the right temperature in your repurposed wine cooler, please leave a comment.

Addendum: Since writing this post I’ve moved on to a better method of aging cheese. You can read about my new cheese fridge here!

November 1, 2019

Dry Aged Beef is aromatic and tender. However, it can be difficult to get unless you’re staying at a quality butcher or an authentic steakhouse. Buying from these vendors can be expensive and inconvenient.

If you want to enjoy dry aged beef in the comfort of your own home, read on to learn how to do it yourself to experience the flavors you’ve been missing out on!

What is dry aging beef?

Dry aging is a process that is carried out after the beef has been harvested. The process is said to improve both the tenderness and flavor of the meat.

The improved taste comes from two specific processes:

– The cultivation of bacteria and mold (not the harmful types)

– A reduction in humidity

Reducing the moisture creates a piece of meat with a more concentrated flavor. The bacteria and mold give the meat a nutty flavor.

Keep in mind that dry aged beef isn’t for everyone. Some foodies prefer the taste of regular beef as it doesn’t have the intense nutty flavor that dry-aged beef does.

If you’ve never eaten dry-aged beef before, you should try it at a local restaurant or meat market. If you visit one of these places, you can see if you like it.

It’s best to try dry-aging at home as soon as you know you like dry-aged beef, as the process at home can be time-consuming.

What is the difference between dry aging and wet aging?

You may have heard these terms but aren’t sure what they mean.

You’re probably more familiar with wet aging, as it’s the process used on beef bought from grocery stores. In wet aging, beef is vacuum sealed, which is the same method used to prevent freezer burn when freezing beef.

Wet aged beef:

No oxygen involved

Minimal enzymatic changes

bloody taste

Dry Aged Beef:

oxygen involved

Noticeable enzymatic changes that alter the flavor of the beef

Richer and more complex aromas

Which is cheaper: dry-aged or wet-aged beef?

As previously mentioned, you are probably more familiar with wet aged beef as most of us have been introduced to it in supermarkets and stock it here at Seven Sons Farms.

In general, wet-aged beef is less expensive to produce and the process is simple. It doesn’t require that much time or equipment. In addition, you almost do not lose any product during the entire process.

When it comes to dry aged beef, you will find that it is more expensive. It takes more labor and time to craft, and you need special equipment. It’s also more expensive because of the amount of product you end up losing.

This is due to the evaporation and trimming involved in the process.

If it’s more expensive and time consuming, why do people prefer this option? Well, it’s a classic that people have enjoyed for centuries. Many prefer its flavor and find the extra cost and effort well worth it.

Read on to learn everything you need to know about dry aging your own beef.

What equipment do I need to dry age beef at home?

This process will require some time and patience on your part. Prepare yourself with the right equipment.

Basic things you need

A fridge. While we recommend buying a dry aging refrigerator, your regular one will work just fine. However, note that there is a catch: the refrigerator you choose should only be used for dry aging.

Don’t use it to store beer bottles, spices and other miscellaneous items. A multi-purpose refrigerator with other items stored inside can spoil the flavor of your final beef product. Opening and closing your fridge frequently can also affect the bottom line.

Also think about the size of your fridge and how much meat you want to cook. A refrigerator that is too small can cause insufficient airflow, while a refrigerator that is too large can cause humidity problems.

Find a refrigerator that fits your prep needs. Consider buying one with a glass door so you can check your beef’s progress without opening the door and interrupting the aging process.

A fan. This might sound like an odd tool in a kitchen, but you’ll need it for dry-aging meat. Ensuring proper airflow is important to the setup process. Without them, you won’t get a tasty end product.

A small standalone fan will work just fine. You can get a small battery operated one. Or one with a power cord will work as long as the refrigerator door closes securely. Just make sure you sterilize your fan before putting it in the fridge.

A substitute for the more adventurous

While a regular household refrigerator should get the job done, one isn’t as consistently cold as a refrigerator meant for dry aging. If you’re particularly adventurous, consider investing in a dry-aging refrigerator. Consider how a dry-aging fridge outperforms your standard home fridge:

It keeps its contents cold. In order to successfully dry-ripen meat, you need low temperatures. Ideally, the temperature range should be between 34.7 degrees Fahrenheit and 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This small range doesn’t leave much room for error.

Even if your domestic refrigerator has an electronically controlled thermostat control, it cannot exactly meet these temperature limitations. A aging refrigerator is designed to meet the specific temperature requirements for dry-aged meat.

It regulates the climate. Temperature is not the only factor to consider. You also want to have a sterile environment for dry aged beef. A dry-aging refrigerator sterilizes and controls humidity to prevent the development of unhealthy mold.

It has other purposes. If you decide to take a break from dry aging meat, this type of refrigerator can be used for other purposes. For example, you can keep herbs, vegetables and fruits fresher longer in the constant temperatures and sterilized conditions that this refrigerator offers. Just make sure you sanitize the fridge between uses.

Acquiring this type of refrigerator gives you a special place for dry-aged beef. You don’t have to worry about clearing out your kitchen’s main fridge and dealing with cross-contamination.

Which beef should I use?

Now that you know what you need to get started, you can just use any meat you can find at your local grocery store. Before we get into the actual process, you should know that the type and quality of the meat is important. Consider these factors when purchasing your cuts.

The best cuts of meat to use

One of the most important aspects of dry aged beef is proper cut size. While you can age individually cut pieces, we do not recommend doing so. It’s best to use large chunks, as they lose water through dehydration.

Larger whole muscles (aka subprimals) are usually a safe bet. Examples of meats you could use are a sirloin strip or a large rib roast with at least three ribs.

It’s also important that you choose cuts with a thick outer layer of fat. When you trim the exterior at the end of the process, you’re only trimming away chunks of fat. In this way you avoid a lot of unnecessary waste and can enjoy your beef to the fullest.

The presence of fat is also important as it adds flavor. Avoid cuts that are too lean, otherwise you won’t have enough fat for a tasty end product. Try to stick to USDA Prime cuts. This is the minimum amount of marbling you will need.

Another factor to consider is whether or not the cut is on the bone or on the bone. If the cut is on the bone, you can easily trim away flesh while trimming without losing anything.

Here’s our recommendation: prime rib roast or beef tenderloin

Is high-quality meat better?

You already need additional equipment like a special refrigerator for the dry-age beef. Is it worth investing in higher quality meat? The answer is yes!

When choosing your meat, you don’t want to sacrifice quality. A top-notch cut absorbs flavors properly and creates a better overall flavor.

Make sure you get your meat from a good source. It is recommended that ethical grass-fed beef be used for dry aging beef.

How do I know if I’m buying good quality meat?

As mentioned above, you want to look for cuts with some amount of marbling and fat on the outside. These are items that you can easily spot.

To ensure you are buying good quality meat, use your best judgement. Look for brown or gray edges. Avoid cuts that are shaky and wet rather than dry and tight.

Talk to your local butcher or farmer

When in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Your local butcher or farmer should be your point of contact.

They are meat experts and can help you with your purchasing decision. Let them know you plan to try dry aging at home. They can give you their recommendations and maybe even give you advice on the actual process. You can also ensure that you only take home the highest quality pieces.

Don’t just buy it off the shelf

Of course, buying meat off the shelf at your supermarket might be the easiest option. However, it will not give you the best dry aging results.

For one thing, lax regulations can make it difficult for you to know exactly what you’re getting and where it’s coming from. The expiry dates are not always important. Overall, the inferior quality can make it difficult to get good results from the dry aging process.

What is the process of dry aging beef at home?

Dry aging beef is worth the work and time. It’s not a walk in the park, though, so come prepared.

The facility

Disinfect your fridge. Use a mixture of bleach and water to disinfect the interior surfaces of the refrigerator.

Make sure your refrigerator’s humidity range is between 75% and 85%. If your refrigerator is below this range, excessive product shrinkage may occur.

If humidity is above 85%, spoilage is more likely. Maintaining reasonable humidity levels is easy in most areas of the United States. If your area has particularly dry or humid air, you will need a humidity controller on your refrigerator.

Make sure the temperature is controlled. Your refrigerator should be between -1.6 and 4.44 degrees Celsius. The ideal range is between 36 and 39 degrees Fahrenheit (2.22 to 3.88 degrees Celsius) so you don’t spoil expensive produce or get sick from eating spoiled meat.

Get a piece of meat that’s already dried. To ensure it’s done right, we recommend sourcing this cut of meat from a local dry-aged butcher.

Spread this piece of meat inside your fridge. This accelerates the development of the microclimate of your refrigerator. You can dry age beef without this part, but without this help it takes much longer for the microclimate to form.

The cooking process

While setup is important, you’ll look forward to the cooking process. When your beef has dried for the appropriate amount of time, think about your taste buds. Also consider the taste buds of the people you may be cooking for.

Tactility is subjective as people prefer different tastes and textures.

With a perfect trial run, all your aging parameters are right and there is no spoilage. The only thing that can stand in the way of a perfect piece of meat is the rind, i.e. the tough outer skin that forms during the aging process.

This rind will not soften during the cooking process. It must be removed before cooking begins. Cut the bark free, being careful not to leave any of it behind. If you leave bark over, you’ll ruin an otherwise perfect dry aging experiment.

If you cut away the bark, you may notice discoloration. These are normal and safe to eat in most cases. If you are unsure if they are safe to eat, feel these spots to see if they are tender. If they are particularly firm, cut them away to avoid food poisoning.

FAQ

Here are some questions we haven’t covered yet:

“Is there an easier way?”

If that sounds like a lot of work, you’re not alone! Many people find this process difficult and time-consuming, resulting in not bothering about it at all.

Of course, if there’s an easier way, you’ll want to be there. Unfortunately there isn’t.

Some websites suggest that this process is not as complicated as most make it out to be. They suggest that “shortcut” methods work just as well.

For example, some say you can just line cuts in a pan with a paper towel or cheesecloth. Then put the pan in the fridge for about 3 to 7 days.

There are several reasons why this method is ineffective. While the cheesecloth dehydrates the meat, it doesn’t age it. The enzymes need at least 2 weeks to really tenderize the fibers. The beef needs at least 3 weeks to develop complex flavors.

When it comes to dry aged beef, it’s best not to take shortcuts. You’ll just end up frustrated and without the product you want. While the process may seem tedious, it definitely pays off. In the end, you, your family and your guests will get a delicious, properly aged piece of meat.

“Is mold okay?”

Some people might be wary when they hear that mold is involved in this process. After all, mold is bad for us, right? We stay away from it in the produce department and throw away bread as soon as we notice its presence on it.

However, when it comes to dry-aging beef, mold is completely normal and even essential. Basically, we want it because it produces the nutty flavor we’re aiming for. Think of the mold that many cheeses that produce desirable products have.

If at any time you notice black mold, discontinue all aging activities. If you learned one thing from this article, it’s this: black mold is bad. Be sure to throw meat out of your fridge and clean it thoroughly. Then try again and adjust your process accordingly.

“What are the right preparation and cooking techniques?”

Knowing how to prepare and cook your dry-age meat is very important. It ensures your hard work pays off and everyone is safe.

Preparation: During the maturation process, a rind forms. Be sure to remove it as it won’t soften as it cooks.

Cooking: Make sure you cook at least the outside of your meat to the right temperature. The high heat kills harmful bacteria. You don’t need to cook the inside as it’s sterile. Keep in mind, however, that bone is not bacteria and can multiply. Either cut off the bone entirely, or fry separately and serve with the cut.

“How long do I usually age beef for?”

This answer depends on what you want to achieve. If you just want to increase tenderness, four weeks should be fine. After a month it will no longer be sensitive to a point where you will actually notice it.

If you want to improve the flavor profile of the meat, you need to age it a little longer. A month is the minimum time to notice any hints of traditional dry aged flavor. If you’re looking for more complex notes, keep it in your fridge for six to eight weeks.

“Why does dry aged beef taste better?”

Dry aged beef doesn’t necessarily taste better. In fact, some people prefer the taste of wet-aged beef as it doesn’t have an overpowering nutty flavor.

For those who choose dry-aged beef over its wet-aged counterpart, it’s usually because of its increased tenderness and flavor caused by oxidation, enzyme degradation, and bacteria. Who knew science was responsible for how your food tastes?

Make your beef taste better!

If you want to try dry aging for yourself, get high-quality Seven Sons grass-fed beef to start with.

How Long Can You Keep Dry Aged Steak in the Fridge?

How long you keep your dry aged steak in the fridge depends on a variety of factors. Typically, the flavors associated with dry-aged steaks begin to emerge at around 21 days where a light nuttiness develops, subtle umami and mushroom flavors emerge at 28-35 days, and bold notes of blue cheese can be tasted beginning at 45 days.

Ultimately, the answer to the age-old question, “How long will you keep dry aged steak in the fridge?” depends on which cut you use and your personal taste preferences. Our guide will help you determine the best length of time to keep your dry aged steak in the refrigerator based on these factors.

How does slicing affect how long you can keep dry aged steak in the fridge?

In dry aging, whole sides or cuts of beef are hung in a constant flow of air and kept at a temperature just above freezing and allowed to mature for several weeks or even several months. These cuts are usually the larger muscle cuts that should be on the bone and still have their natural fat cap intact.

This environment allows the natural enzymes to act on the muscle tissue and slowly causes the cuts to become dehydrated. This concentrates the meat flavor and changes the taste, texture and tenderness. The advantage of this method is very tender meat with an intense taste. The downside is that there is some weight loss due to moisture loss, reducing yield and increasing cost per pound. Also, the surface of the meat must usually be trimmed away before the beef is portioned and sold, resulting in a further loss of volume.

Timeline of how long you can keep dry aged steak in the fridge:

7 days

The main structural protein in the steak has started to break down. But at this stage, the beef is still light-colored and isn’t sold as “seasoned” because it doesn’t yet have the complex flavor and tenderness typical of a dry-aged steak. After this stage, flavor and tender texture begin to intensify, but so does weight loss and risk of spoilage – this is where our Dry Age fridge comes in. Steak Locker specializes in meat aging refrigerator products that mature meat under strictly controlled conditions that regulate temperature, bacteria and humidity that eliminate the risk of dry aging.

21 days

During this phase, the flesh loses about 10% of its weight through evaporation. The fat and bones on the sides of the beef make the sides waterproof as water escapes from the front and back of the steak. As the moisture is removed from the meat, its flavor becomes more concentrated as a subtle nutty flavor begins to develop. At this point, instead of shrinking, the fat in the steak begins to darken.

30 days

This is one of the most commonly chosen times of the aging process for dry-age steaks. After 30 days, the flavor and texture of the meat has developed into that of the typical dry-aged steak. At this stage the meat has lost 15% of its weight and the flavor levels are described as rich, mushroom and umami flavors.

45 days

At this stage, the steak has developed a sharper, pungent flavor that exudes bold blue cheese notes. The fat around the steak changes flavor before the rest of the meat, and the meat has lost only a fraction of its weight.

90 days

After 90 days, the steak will have developed a white crust that protects the meat, much like the rind of some cheeses. This outer crust is removed before the meat is sold.

120 days

The meat at this stage has an extremely intense flavor that some would describe as offbeat. The steak has lost about 35% of its original weight. Steaks aged this long are only sold in a handful of high-end restaurants due to their high cost and strong, unique flavor.

How long does it take to cook dry aged steaks?

Depending on your choice of cut, and due to the nature of the dry aging process, it is almost always preferred to cut steaks at least 1.5 inches thick. How to Prepare the Best Steak When you are ready to prepare your steak, make sure the meat is dry and completely stripped of any hard, dried out layers and any dark areas from the dry aging process.

Your dry-aged steak will cook in about half the time compared to a non-dry-aged steak, primarily due to the lower moisture in the steak’s muscle. We have also found that electronic and analog thermometers can be unreliable. As with most tricky things, practice gets better. It is best to always undercook dry aged steaks and then have extra cooking time if desired. You can never Hungarian cook a steak, but you always have the option to increase the cooking time.

Due to the complexity and time required for the meat aging process, and to reduce the risk of cross-contamination of flavors with other products that you normally store in the refrigerator, it is recommended to use a separate refrigerator when dry aging. To unlock the flavors of your steak and learn more about our dry age refrigerators, visit our dry age refrigerators page.

Ask a steak expert

Our experts are available to answer all of your steak and dry aging questions, including how long can you keep dry aged steak in the fridge? Let us know what other questions you have and let us know yours Dry Aged Steak results on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with

You’ve probably been to a fancy steakhouse where dry-aged steaks were on the menu. But if you’re like me, you probably passed them on because 1) dry-aged beef is slightly more expensive, and 2) you didn’t quite know what it meant for a steak to be “dry-aged” to begin with in place.

After today you will understand what happens to a steak when it is dry aged (and consequently why an aged steak costs more).

What is Dry Aged Beef?

The steak you usually eat is fresh. It’s red and full of moisture, which makes it nice and juicy.

A dry-aged steak, as you may have guessed, is aged before it is eaten. You can find steaks dry aged anywhere from 7 to even up to 120 days. The most common time frame for dry aging a steak is 30 days. The meat doesn’t spoil during this time because you’re aging it under conditions that tightly control moisture and bacteria levels.

Dry aging removes moisture from the meat. This makes the beef flavor even stronger and spicier. During the aging process, the beef’s natural enzymes also break down the connective tissue in the meat, making it more tender. A mushroom crust that grows on the outside of the meat as it ages encourages this tenderness process and gives your beef a nice, corny flavor (you scrape off this mushroom crust before cooking).

Dry-aging is basically a controlled breakdown of meat, which sounds a bit gross, but results in meat that is 1) tastier and 2) more tender.

The longer a piece of beef is dry aged, the tastier and more tender it will be.

In his book Meats, celebrity butcher and former podcast guest Pat LaFrieda gives a nice explanation of how a steak’s flavor and tenderness changes depending on how long it’s dry aged, which I’ve condensed and summarized below:

7 days: Collagen breakdown has just started, but the steak doesn’t have the flavor or texture you’re looking for in a dry aged steak. Steak is not sold as “aged” at this time. The flesh is still fairly light in color, but will darken as it ages and dries. 21 days: The steak loses 10 percent of its weight through evaporation in the first 3 weeks. The water will ooze out the front and back of the meat, but the fat and bones on the sides of the steak will waterproof the sides. As the meat shrinks, the steak will become more concave as it ages. Although fat does not shrink, it does darken with age. 30 days: This is the most commonly requested age for steaks. The steak has developed the flavor and texture qualities associated with dry aged meat: it is very tender, with a flavor best described as a cross between buttered popcorn and roast beef. At this point, the steak has lost 15 percent of its total weight. 45 days: The steak has a little more funk than the 30 day aged one. You’ll start noticing white streaks in the meat, which is a mixture of mold and salt. The steak lost only a fraction more weight, and the flavor of the fat changes before the meat, so it’s important not to trim off all of the fat before frying. 90 days: The white crust is still developing. This crust protects the meat like a rind on cheese. The outer crust is scraped off the meat before it is sold. 120 days: Only a handful of very high-quality restaurants buy steaks that have been aged that long. The steak has lost 35 percent of its original weight. A steak that has been matured for such a long time has a very unconventional flavor and is also very expensive, so for someone who really appreciates an unusually intense beef flavor.

A few months ago I decided to finally try dry aged steak. While most grocery stores don’t sell it (due to the time and money costs involved; more on that below), Reasor’s, a local grocery chain here in Tulsa, does. I bought a 30 day dry aged steak and a fresh steak to compare the two.

When you buy dry-aged steak from a grocery store, you want to cook it the same day. Leaving it in your fridge for a while throws the dry-aging process off balance. By letting it sit, it ages a little more, albeit under suboptimal conditions.

The dry aged steak definitely tasted stronger and had that light buttery popcorn flavor that LaFrieda described. It was also much, much more tender than the fresh steak.

To me, the dry-aged steak didn’t taste any better than the fresh steak; it was only . . . different. I probably wouldn’t bother or spend extra money for a dry aged steak at a restaurant. But that’s just me.

Why is Dry Aged Beef more expensive?

They’ll try to spend a few more dollars for a dry-aged version of a steak. Why?

Because the process of bringing it to this state takes a long time and requires special temperature, humidity and airflow controlled refrigerators. The refrigerators must also be sterile and must not contain any bacteria. If the temperature or humidity is too high or too low, the meat will spoil or not mature properly.

More TLC = More $$$

Can I dry-age beef at home?

Yes, but it’s a lot of work.

There are guides out there that show you how to dry age steaks at home. Some guides claim you can do it in your regular fridge, arranging the meat in layers of cheesecloth and letting it sit for a few days. But can you really?

I asked Pat LaFrieda about this during my podcast interview with him last year, and here’s what he said:

“It’s almost impossible to do that at home unless you have a dedicated fridge and one that lets you read the fridge’s internal temperature and humidity. Humidity must be controlled. We have several systems that remove moisture from the air. It is very difficult to do at home. . . It’s not worth your time.”

The inconsistent temperature and humidity inside your refrigerator from regularly opening and closing the door disrupts the dry aging process and causes unwanted and unhealthy bacterial growth. Additionally, the meat is likely to pick up flavors in your fridge. You’ve probably eaten unpackaged butter that was sitting in your fridge. It tastes like . . . Refrigerator. And it’s disgusting. Your meat will likely taste like this in your fridge for several days or even weeks.

If you want to dry-age meat at home, you should make a special refrigerator just for this process. Here’s a YouTube video of one version of it.

Unless you plan on making dry-aging beef your hobby (like brewing beer or roasting coffee beans), you’re better off just buying it at the store.

For an introduction to meat, listen to my podcast with Pat:

Sometimes I get emails from readers saying something like, “You said one thing in article X, then a few years later, in article Y, you said almost the complete opposite. What is there? Don’t you believe in science? , and isn’t science concerned with facts?

There is only one science that does not contradict itself: the bad one. Science must be open to accepting and considering conflicting evidence and redefining “facts” by definition. Hell, if we weren’t allowed to form new theories and refute conclusions through further experiments, we’d still believe in crazy things like spontaneous generation, static universes, or even sautéing meat in juices. And where would we be today?

I mention this because a few weeks ago I went to great lengths to test and explain exactly why you can’t dry meat at home, no way, no way. Today I’m going to walk you through exactly how you can dry-age at home, how relatively easy it is, and how it can vastly improve the eating quality of your steaks and roasts to the point that they’re better than what you can buy at even the best gourmet supermarket .*

*And unlike many sources claiming similar results, I actually have the blind taste tests to prove it!

Now, before you go and call the National Committee of Good Science and send them to confiscate my calculator (by which I mean my head), let me first state that I stand by what I say in this article 100% wrote: Given that starting with individual steaks, dry aging at home is not possible, despite what some otherwise reputable sources have said in the past. The blind tasting showed that there was absolutely no discernible improvement in the eating quality of the steaks between the first day and the seventh day of such aging.

But we all know that single steaks aren’t professional dry aged meat, right? No, they start with whole subprimals — large chunks of meat with fully intact bones and caps of fat — and mature them uncovered in temperature, humidity, and air velocity controlled spaces designed to allow them to age for weeks or months without rotting. The question is, can we do this ourselves at home?

I got my hands on 80 pounds of prime bone-in, fat-capped beef ribs to get my answers.* Over the course of more than two months, I’ve aged them in nearly a dozen different ways in order to determine what works and what doesn’t and what matters. Here’s what I found.

*Special thanks to Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors for donating much of the fine beef used in this test.

The Purpose of Aging

How does aging work?

Good question! First, a quick overview of why you should age meat. Conventional wisdom cites three specific goals of dry aging meat, all of which help improve its flavor or texture.

Moisture loss could be a big one. A dry-aged cut of beef can lose up to about 30% of its original volume through water loss, which concentrates its flavor. At least that’s the theory. But is it true? (Cue dramatic foreboding music.)

could be an important one. A dry-aged cut of beef can lose up to about 30% of its original volume through water loss, which concentrates its flavor. At least that’s the theory. But is it true? (Cue dramatic foreshadowing music.) Tenderizing occurs when enzymes naturally present in meat break down some of the tougher muscle fibers and connective tissues. A well-seasoned steak should be noticeably more tender than a fresh steak. But is it?

occurs when enzymes naturally present in meat break down some of the tougher muscle fibers and connective tissues. A well-seasoned steak should be noticeably more tender than a fresh steak. But is it? Flavor change is caused by numerous processes, including enzymatic and bacterial action, along with the oxidation of fat and other fat-like molecules. Properly dry-aged meat develops deeply meaty, nutty, and almost cheesy flavors.

But is aged meat really better than fresh meat?

It depends. I had a panel of tasters test different aged meats and rank them on general preference, tenderness, and funkiness. Almost everyone who has tasted meat that has been aged for a few weeks – the period after which a certain level of tenderness has set in but has not yet developed a serious flavor – has preferred it to completely fresh meat.

On the other hand, people were more mixed when it came to meat that had been aged longer. Many preferred the more complex, cheese-like flavors that developed with meat aged between 30 and 45 days. Some even liked the ultra-funky flavors that developed in 45- to 60-day-old meat. Where you fall on that spectrum is a matter of experience. I personally prefer meat that’s aged up to 60 days, but beyond that it gets a bit too strong for me.

OK, I’m sold. Why would I want to make it at home when I can order it online or from my butcher?

Two reasons. First, bragging rights. How awesome is that dinner party going to be where you say to your friends, “Do you like that beef? I matured it myself for eight weeks”?

Second, it saves money. Lot of money. Aging meat takes time and space, and time and space cost money. These costs are passed on to the consumer. Well-aged meat can cost between 50% and 100% more than an equivalent piece of fresh meat. As long as you’re at home willing to forgo a corner of your fridge, or have an extra mini-fridge, the added expense is minimal.

You may have read that aside from the time and space it takes, a large part of the cost of cured meat is due to the amount of meat that is wasted – i.e. H. Meat that dries up and needs trimming. This isn’t as big of a factor as you think, and we’ll soon find out why.

Selection of meat for aging

Which piece of meat should I buy for aging?

To properly age meat, you need to choose a large cut that is best prepared using quick cooking methods. This makes the standard steakhouse cuts — the New York strip, rib steak, and porterhouse — the ideal cuts for aging. (For more information on the four high-end steaks you should know, click here.) The easiest to find (and my personal favorite) is the rib steak, which you get by cutting a prime rib between the bones into individual pieces cut steaks.

What is the minimum size I need to buy to properly mature? Can I mature a single steak?

Left individually “aged” steak; fresh steak on the right.

No, unfortunately you cannot mature individual steaks. (See more details on why not here.) You can wrap them in cheesecloth or paper towels, place them on a rack, and leave them in the fridge for about a week, but during that time no discernible level of texture or flavor changes will take place. Try aging them even longer and (assuming they don’t start to rot)* here’s what you get:

45 days individually dry aged rib steak.

*In my experience this can happen if the cheesecloth or paper towel holds moisture against the meat and you don’t have enough ventilation.

The meat is so dried out that it is completely inedible. After I cut away the dried and slightly moldy bits (perfectly normal for dry-aged meat), I was left with a slice of meat about half an inch thick. It was impossible to cook anything less than well done, making my effective yield a big fat zero.

The simple truth is that to dry age you need larger cuts of meat and you need to age them in the open air.

So what should I look out for with the larger cuts of meat?

Rib sections come in several different shapes, each with its own number designation.

The 103 is the most intact. It’s a whole rib section (that’s ribs six through 12 of the steer), along with a significant portion of the short ribs, the fully intact chine bones, and a large flap of fat and meat (called “heber meat” and not its). confused with the coveted Spinalis dorsi*), which covers the fleshy side. You’re unlikely to find this cut even if you ask the butcher.

is the most intact. It’s a whole rib section (that’s ribs six through 12 of the steer), along with a significant portion of the short ribs, the fully intact chine bones, and a large flap of fat and meat (called “heber meat” and not its). confused with the coveted Spinalis dorsi*), which covers the fleshy side. You’re unlikely to find this cut even if you ask the butcher. The 107 has been trimmed somewhat, with the short ribs trimmed short, sawing off some (but not all) of the chine bone and removing the outer cartilage. In this way, ribeyes are commonly sold to butcher shops and supermarkets where they can be further cut up.

was trimmed somewhat, with the short ribs trimmed short, some (but not all) of the chine bone sawed off, and the outer cartilage removed. In this way, ribeyes are commonly sold to butcher shops and supermarkets where they can be further cut up. The 109A is considered ready to roast and serve. The chine bone has been sawed off almost completely and the heber meat removed. The fat cap is put back on once the lifter meat is gone.

is considered ready for roasting and serving. The chine bone has been sawed off almost completely and the heber meat removed. The fat cap is put back on once the lifter meat is gone. The 109 Export is essentially identical to the 109A but the grease cap has been removed. This is the cut you’ll see on your Christmas table or at that fancy hotel buffet. The meat is only minimally protected on the outside of this section.

*The Spinalis, also known as the Ribeye Cap, is the tastiest cut of the cow!

I’ve aged a 107, a 109A, and a 109 Export in a 40°F Avanti mini fridge, which I placed a small table fan in to allow air to circulate (I had to cut a small notch in the weatherstrip around the door , so that the fan cable can be fed through) to simulate a dry ripening room on a small scale. I made no attempt to regulate the humidity, which fluctuated between 30 and 80% (higher at the beginning, lower with age).

I’ve found that the more protection you have, the better your end yield. Why is external protection important during meat aging? Because if you dry-age meat for a period of time, which is enough to make a difference, the outer layers become completely desiccated and need to be removed. The less protected the “good” meat is, the more of it you end up in the trash and trash. Here’s what happens when you try to age a 109 export:

See how much of that poor spinalis muscle has withered and dried up? I had to remove it completely before I could find meat to cook underneath. And that’s not meat you want to waste.

On the other hand, after removing the grease cap on a 109A, what is left is:

The fat cap effectively protects the meat from moisture loss, leaving a spinalis muscle that is 100% edible.

Trim off the fat a bit more, as did the cut surfaces, and here’s what we have:

The yield you get is basically the same as a normal sized roast. If you think of your prime rib as a long cylinder, you’ll only end up losing flesh on both ends. The fat cap and bones fully protect the sides.

What Causes Flavor Change?

Aged meat does not lose much moisture. But wait a minute, haven’t I read that aged steaks can lose up to 30% of their weight in water? Isn’t that one of the reasons aged steak is so expensive?

Don’t believe everything you read. That 30% figure is deceptive at best and a blatant lie at worst. Yes, it is true that if you dry age an untrimmed prime rib with bone and fat cap, you will lose about 30% of its total weight over the course of about 21 to 30 days. What they don’t tell you is that the weight is lost almost entirely from the outer layers – the part of the meat that’s going to be trimmed away anyway, regardless of whether it’s aged or not.

Have you never noticed that the aged ribeye steaks in the butcher’s display case aren’t 30% smaller than the fresh ribeyes in the display case? Or that bone-in aged steaks don’t stretch and detach from their bones—I mean, the bones don’t shrink, either, do they?

The fact is that the edible part of a mature prime rib is pretty much identical to that of a fresh prime rib, with the exception of the cut surfaces that need to be trimmed off.

Okay, let’s say I’m convinced of it. Does that mean the whole idea that “meat flavor is concentrated in an aged steak due to dehydration” is also wrong?

I’m afraid so. It’s a great idea in theory, but several facts don’t support it.

First, there’s a simple visual check: a trimmed steak cut from an aged cut of beef is pretty much the same size as a trimmed steak cut from a fresh cut of beef.

I also measured the density of differently aged beef versus completely fresh meat. To do this, I cut out pieces of meat of the same weight from the middle of ribeyes that have been aged to different degrees, making sure that large swaths of fat are excluded. Then I dipped each of these pieces of meat in water and measured their displacement. What I found was that meat aged for 21 days displaced about 4% less liquid than completely fresh meat. A slight increase, but not by much. Meat aged up to 60 days displaced 5% less overall – showing that the majority of the moisture loss occurs in the first three weeks.

“That is, the less aged the meat was, the more moisture was expelled.”

Moreover, these density differences disappeared completely after the meat was cooked. That is, the less aged the meat was, the more moisture it released. Why is this? One of the side effects of aging is the breakdown of meat protein and connective tissue. This will make the meat more tender and less likely to contract during cooking. Less contraction = less moisture loss.

Finally, in many cases, 100% fresh meat lost even more liquid than dry-aged meat.

Finally, a simple taste test was the nail in the coffin: Meat that had been dry aged for 21 days (the period when the greatest change in density of inner meat occurs) was indistinguishable from the taste of fresh meat. The improvements only concerned the texture. It was only between the 30 and 60 day marks that real perceptible changes in taste occurred, and during this time there was essentially no change in intrinsic density. Thus, the loss of moisture is not associated with a change in taste.

Why doesn’t meat that’s been aged lose moisture after the first few weeks?

It’s a matter of permeability. As meat loses moisture, its muscle fibers become increasingly tightly packed, making it increasingly difficult for moisture beneath the surface to escape further. After the first few weeks, the outer layer of meat is so dense and tough that it is virtually impervious to moisture loss.

Look here:

You can see that the layer of dried meat is as thick in a cut of beef aged for four weeks as it is in a cut aged for over eight weeks. No matter how long I aged the steak, the waste was about the same—just about an inch from the outer cut surfaces.

If it’s not moisture loss, what factors affect the flavor of aged beef?

A few things. The first is the enzymatic breakdown of muscle proteins into shorter fragments, altering their flavor in desirable ways. But this effect is entirely secondary to the far more important change that occurs when fat is exposed to oxygen. It is the oxidation of fat as well as bacterial action on the meat’s surfaces that causes the most profound flavor change – the funkiness you get in meat aged over 30 days.

It’s true that much of this unconventional flavor is concentrated in the outermost parts of the meat – the parts that are mostly trimmed away – and for this reason it is extremely important that you do it when getting the most out of your aged meat want to serve it with the bone attached. Unlike the fat cap, which is completely removed and discarded, the outer portions of the bones still contain tons of oxidized fat and affected meat. The flavors of this meat reach your nostrils as you eat, transforming your entire experience. Aged steak lovers also appreciate the spinalis (again, the outer cap of meat on a ribeye) for its richer, more aged flavor.

setup aging

What kind of setup do I really need to mature steaks at home? how easy is it

It is very simple and requires practically no special equipment. There are just a few things you need:

fridge space. The best thing you can use is your own mini fridge that you can keep closed so the smell of meat doesn’t permeate the rest of your food and vice versa. It can get a little… powerful. The mini-fridge I kept next to my desk filled the office with the aroma of aging meat if I peeked in for just a moment or two. Likewise, aged meats can absorb flavors from your refrigerator. Unless your fridge is odor free, a mini fridge is your best option.

The best thing you can use is your own mini fridge that you can keep closed so the smell of meat doesn’t permeate the rest of your food and vice versa. It can get a little… powerful. The mini-fridge I kept next to my desk filled the office with the aroma of aging meat if I peeked in for just a moment or two. Likewise, aged meats can absorb flavors from your refrigerator. Unless your fridge is odor free, a mini fridge is your best option. A fan. To encourage surface drying and even aging, you’ll want to put a fan in your fridge to keep the air circulating. This works similar to a convection oven and promotes more even cooling and humidity all around. I used a standard table fan. To get it in there, I cut a small notch in the fridge door seal – just big enough for the cord to fit through.

To encourage surface drying and even aging, you’ll want to put a fan in your fridge to keep the air circulating. This works similar to a convection oven and promotes more even cooling and humidity all around. I used a standard table fan. To get it in there, I cut a small notch in the fridge door seal – just big enough for the cord to fit through. A rack. Your meat needs to be elevated on a rack. I tried aging a piece of meat on a plate and right on the bottom of the fridge. Bad idea. The part that came in contact with the slab was not properly dehydrated and eventually rotted. Aging on a wire shelf or directly on the wire shelf of a refrigerator is the way to go.

Your meat needs to be elevated on a rack. I tried aging a piece of meat on a plate and right on the bottom of the fridge. Bad idea. The part that came in contact with the slab was not properly dehydrated and eventually rotted. Aging on a wire shelf or directly on the wire shelf of a refrigerator is the way to go. Time. Patience, little grasshopper. Your patience will be rewarded with the steak of your dreams.

But what about moisture? I’ve heard that humidity needs to be kept high [or low, or medium, or nonexistent, or et cetera]? Where should it be and how can I control it?

The three different refrigerators I’ve aged meat in all had different moisture levels. The mini-fridge was constantly high – about 80% throughout the aging process (I kept it there by leaving a small bowl of water in the back). A piece was left in the office fridge, which was periodically opened and closed throughout the process. Its humidity ranged from 30 to 80% without regularity. Finally, my fridge at home had a lower humidity level, closer to 50% at all times (similar to ambient room humidity).

Guess what? All three produced excellent aged beef.

And it makes sense. As my tests above show, the outer layers of the beef become almost impervious to moisture after the first few weeks. It really doesn’t make much of a difference how humid or dry the environment is; the inner flesh is protected. That’s good news for home dry agers!

Timed coordination

OK, I’m almost convinced. How long should I let my meat mature?

I had tasters taste steaks that had been aged for different periods. To ensure all steaks were fairly ranked and to minimize differences in actual cooking, I cooked them in a sous vide water bath to 127°F before finishing them with a cast iron skillet and burner combo. Steaks were tasted completely blind.

Results indicated that aging time was largely a matter of personal preference, but here’s a rough guide to what happens over the course of 60 days:

14 days or less: Not much point. No change in taste; very little detectable change in tenderness. Very few people preferred this steak.

Not much point. No change in taste; very little detectable change in tenderness. Very few people preferred this steak. 14 to 28 days: Especially at the higher end of this scale, the steak begins to become noticeably more tender. Still, no major taste changes. That’s about the age of a steak at your average high-end steakhouse.

Especially at the higher end of this scale, the steak becomes noticeably more tender. Still, no major taste changes. That’s about the age of a steak at your average high-end steakhouse. 28 to 45 days: Some real funkiness is beginning to manifest. At 45 days, there are distinct notes of blue or cheddar cheese, and the flesh is noticeably juicier and juicier. Most tasters preferred 45-day aged steak to all others.

Some real funkiness is starting to manifest. At 45 days, there are distinct notes of blue or cheddar cheese, and the flesh is noticeably juicier and juicier. Most tasters preferred 45-day aged steak to all others. 45 to 60 days: Extremely intense aromas develop. A handful of tasters enjoyed the richness of this highly aged meat, although some found it too much for more than a bite or two. Ed Levine said of the 60-day steak, “I may have reached my aging threshold.” Rarely does one find a restaurant that serves such a well-aged steak.*

*I only know of two in New York: Minetta Tavern, which has an 80-day steak, and Eleven Madison Park, which serves 120-day aged steaks as part of its tasting menu.

I still have some questions!

What about wet aging? What is it and does it work?

Wet aging is easy: put your beef in a Cryovac bag and let it sit on the shelf (or more likely on refrigerated trucks if shipping across the country) for a few weeks. Tell your customers it’s aged; sell it at a premium.

The problem is that wet aging has nothing to do with dry aging.

First of all, there is no fat oxidation in wet aging, which means no unusual flavors are developed. Minimal flavor change will occur from enzymatic reactions, but they are, well, minimal. In addition, wet aging prevents excess serum and meat juices from running off. Tasters often report that wet-aged meat tastes “sour” or “serumy.”

Wet-aging can offer the same softening and moisture-retaining benefits as dry-aging, but that’s about it. In reality, wet aging is a product of laziness and greed. It’s easy to let the retailer’s cryopreserved bag of beef sit around for a week before the bag is opened so that it can be labeled ‘cured’ and sold for a higher price. i don’t buy it If you’re selling “aged” meat, be sure to ask if it’s dry-aged or wet-aged. If they don’t know the answer or aren’t willing to share it, it’s best to assume the worst.

The other disadvantage of wet aging: it cannot be carried out for as long as dry aging. It seems counterintuitive considering that a wet aged cut of meat is largely protected by the outside environment. But if even a hint of harmful anaerobic bacteria gets into that bag, the flesh in its casing will rot and give no indication that this has happened until you open it.

My sincere apologies to everyone who was in the office the day I opened this packet of rotten wet-aged beef. As Robyn described it, it smelled like “rotten excrement that makes a poo.”

Yes, it was that bad.

What about those fancy “dry aging bags” I’ve read so much about?

Like me, you must have seen those dry aging bag videos floating around the internet. The idea is that you seal a cut of beef in some sort of special bag that allows you to safely age it at home. Supposedly it helps with aging by letting moisture out but not letting air in.

I ordered a few kits to test this out myself. Before I even started aging, there were problems. I went through an entire $25.50 set of three pouches, none of which were able to form a tight seal with my standard FoodSaver vacuum sealer (and yes I followed the directions to a T) . After ordering another kit (and spending a total of $51 on them), I finally got a single bag to seal, only to find the next day that it was in fact not sealed properly and had leaked:

I decided to let it go anyway, squeezing out as much air as possible and trying to ensure good contact between the bag and the surface of the meat as the instructions recommended.

After aging it for several weeks, I unpacked the roast and found the following:

Not the most promising sight, but I dutifully removed the mildew, trimmed the roast and cut steaks from it. The taste tests I ran showed no significant difference between steak aged in one of these pouches and steak aged outdoors. Where I felt a difference was in my wallet, which was now $51 lighter than when I started.

I’ll pass on the special equipment.

Note: For more thoughts on the UMAi Dry Bag, check out this informative post from Go Lb. Salt Blog. If the analysis here is correct, it’s probably a good thing that the pouch didn’t perform as advertised and instead allowed air to come into contact with my flesh. I mean don’t we want the fat to oxidize?

Fast and dirty

Okay, just give me the tl;dr version. How do I age my steak?

Step 1: Buy a prime rib. Make sure it’s bone-in, preferably with the dorsal bone still attached and the fat cap fully intact. If you buy from the butcher, ask him not to cut it at all. A decent butcher will not charge you full price as they make money selling you the extra fat and bones.

Make sure it’s bone-in, preferably with the dorsal bone still attached and the fat cap fully intact. If you buy from the butcher, ask him not to cut it at all. A decent butcher will not charge you full price as they make money selling you the extra fat and bones. Schritt 2: Legen Sie das Fleisch auf ein Gitter in einen Kühlschrank. Vorzugsweise ein spezieller Mini-Kühlschrank, in den Sie einen zu niedrig eingestellten Tischventilator gesteckt haben, mit einer kleinen Kerbe in der Türverkleidung, damit das Kabel herauskommen kann. Stellen Sie die Temperatur auf 36 bis 40 °F ein.

Vorzugsweise ein spezieller Mini-Kühlschrank, in den Sie einen zu niedrig eingestellten Tischventilator gesteckt haben, mit einer kleinen Kerbe in der Türverkleidung, damit das Kabel herauskommen kann. Stellen Sie die Temperatur auf 36 bis 40 °F ein. Schritt 3: Warten. Warten Sie zwischen vier und acht Wochen und wenden Sie das Fleisch gelegentlich, um eine gleichmäßige Reifung zu fördern. Es wird anfangen zu riechen. That is normal.

Warten Sie zwischen vier und acht Wochen und wenden Sie das Fleisch gelegentlich, um eine gleichmäßige Reifung zu fördern. Es wird anfangen zu riechen. That is normal. Schritt 4: Trimmen. Eine Schritt-für-Schritt-Diashow des Prozesses finden Sie in der obigen Diashow.

Eine Schritt-für-Schritt-Diashow des Prozesses finden Sie in der obigen Diashow. Schritt 5: Kochen. (Siehe oben oder unten für einige Rezeptlinks.)

(Siehe oben oder unten für einige Rezeptlinks.) Schritt 6: ???

Schritt 7: Gewinn.

Habt ihr das alle hinbekommen? In, sagen wir, 60 Tagen wird es ein Pop-Quiz geben.

Und Sie möchten wissen, wie Sie diese fantastischen Steaks, die Sie produziert haben, am besten zubereiten? Please!

Continue reading

Bearbeiten: Viele Leute haben nach Fotos des Trocknungsaufbaus gefragt. Ich habe leider keine Fotos, als das Fleisch drin war, aber hier ist ein Foto, das die Lüfterpositionierung und das grundlegende Layout zeigt. Es ist verdammt einfach.

Himalayan salt is one of the most powerful ingredients in the world. Its rich materials and sublime flavor combine to enhance flavors and support the dry aging process. With the help of the right techniques, introducing Himalayan salt into the aging room plays an important role in creating the perfect conditions for aging meat. Because the Himalayan salt helps pull excess moisture out of the meat, it also acts as a natural antibacterial element, helping to kill any bacteria in the ripening room that you don’t want.

Do you need salt with dry-age beef?

The purpose of dry aging meat is to enhance tenderness and create a unique flavor that is only achievable through this process. Aging meat gives natural enzymes time to break down muscle and tissue, resulting in tender meat. The loss of moisture concentrates the aroma to create the rich, unique flavor associated with aged meat. While salt is not used to aid in the aging process, it is used to aid in drying or curing the meat.

How is salt dry aged beef?

Using salt to dry beef helps draw more moisture out of the meat, giving the flavor an extra boost.

What kind of salt do you use for dry aging beef?

A good dry aged steak doesn’t need much before it goes into the chamber. To dry the meat and enhance the flavor you can really use any type of salt like Kosher or Himalayan salt.

Can you use Himalayan salt to salt meat?

Himalayan salt can be used to salt meat. There are many benefits that can be gained from dry aging meat.

It ensures that the meat has a much deeper flavor.

It is known to act as a natural antimicrobial agent due to its chemical components.

How the aging room uses Himalayan salt

In The Aging Room, our drying chambers feature a wall of pink Himalayan salt bricks. Using our patented techniques, the Himalayan salt wall helps remove unwanted bacteria from the space and enhance the flavor of the meat. To protect the chamber, the coating on the chamber wall is absolutely salt-resistant. This way you don’t have to worry about the salt damaging the equipment.

To learn more about The Aging Room Chamber, visit our website or contact us today at +1 (888) 832-3376.

A grilled rib eye steak on a wooden cutting board. Credit: The_Pixeltree/iStock/Getty Images

The purpose of aging beef is to improve tenderness and enhance flavor. Aging gives time for the natural enzymes to break down the muscle and connective tissue, making the meat more tender. The loss of moisture during the process concentrates the aroma to create the unique flavor associated with aged beef. Technically, salt isn’t used to age beef, it’s used to dry or salt the meat.

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choice of meat

The aging process is no cure for less tender cuts of beef, so choose fresh cuts of prime or premium rib eye, sirloin, or round beef. Meat for aging should have a thick layer of fat on the outside because it protects the meat, and it should have slivers of fat running through the cut. It is best to use a whole strip of rib eye or sirloin and dry-age it and cut it into individual steaks. When salt drying beef, the top or bottom round is fine and you don’t need extra fat on the meat.

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Dry aging beef

Wrap the meat in plain white cotton tea towels and place on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or in the coldest shelf. Change the towels every day until the meat is matured, which the Ask the Meatman website says should take 10 to 21 days, but varies depending on the size of the meat. During the process, a crust similar in texture to beef jerky forms on the outside of the meat, so watch out for it as a sign that the maturation is complete. Then cut off the crust and it’s ready to cook.

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Dry aging considerations

For best results, the temperature should be kept at 34 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit. The beef can absorb odors from the fridge, so make sure the food is well covered. If you age the meat for too long, microorganisms can grow and spoil. In addition to an unpleasant smell, the sign of spoiled meat is a slimy surface. It is normal for the meat to shrink during aging, resulting in less edible meat in the end product.

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Dried Beef

Trim any fat from the edges of a round steak, slice thinly, and then place the slices in brine made with 10 cups of near-boiling water and two pounds of salt. Leave the meat in the brine until it turns white, then place the strips directly on the rack in your oven with a tray or aluminum foil on the rack underneath to catch drips. Dry at 225 degrees Fahrenheit, keeping the oven door slightly ajar to allow moisture to escape. The time it takes in the oven will depend on the thickness of the meat, but allow 4 to 6 hours and turn the beef about halfway through cooking. It’s done when it bends but doesn’t break. If desired, you can flavor the brine with pepper, soy or Worcestershire sauce, onion or garlic powder, or liquid smoke.

Salt-cured beef

Salt preserves meat by removing water from the cells and preventing the growth of microorganisms. Mix together eight pounds of salt, three pounds of sugar, two ounces of sodium nitrate, and half an ounce of sodium nitrite. Divide the mixture into thirds and rub one-third of it over the meat every three to five days. Store the meat in the refrigerator for seven days per inch of thickness of the meat.

Each editorial product is independently selected, although we may receive compensation or receive an affiliate commission if you purchase something through our links. Ratings and prices are correct and items are in stock at the time of publication.

What is Dry Aged Beef? Why is dry aged steak so expensive? Here’s what you need to know.

When you judge a steak by its price, it’s obvious that dry-aged beef has to be the best. It’s the most expensive product in the best steakhouses in the USA, and it’s not exactly cheap in the butcher’s shop either. But how is it different from regular beef and why do dry aged steaks cost so much more?

First of all, it takes extra time and effort to create them.

What is Dry Aged Beef?

In the dry aging process, large cuts of beef are aged in temperature and humidity controlled refrigerators for weeks or even months. Unlike wet aging (where the beef is kept in a vacuum-sealed package to age in its own juice), dry-aged beef is left uncovered.

As the surrounding air dries out the meat, the beef loses moisture, shrinks, and concentrates its flavor. The beef’s natural enzymes also go to work, breaking down connective tissue to tenderize the meat. During the process, a layer of white mold grows on the surface of the meat. This mold is an indicator that the beef is definitely aging, but don’t worry; The outer layer is removed long before the steak makes it onto your plate!

After two weeks you will begin to notice a textural difference in the steak. If you let it mature for more than 21 days, the taste will also start to change. A 30-day aged steak has a very bold flavor with hints of buttered popcorn. If you continue aging it for more than 45 days, it takes on an unconventional, blue cheese-like note. Keep going for 60, 90 or 120 days and the flavors will intensify. It can get so tender that you hardly need a knife to get through it.

Do dry-aged steaks really taste better? Here’s our take on it.

Dry-Aged Beef vs. Regular Beef

There is of course an obvious price difference. But there is also a notable physical difference between dry-aged beef and a regular steak. While a fresh steak is bright red and juicy, a dry-aged steak is dark brown and looks a bit wrinkled. If you were able to poke each steak, you would find that your finger would make a tiny indentation in the regular steak, but the meat would bounce right back onto the dry aged beef.

It may be difficult to find dry aged steaks at the grocery store, but they are available at many butcher shops. If you want to try the dry-aged steak, make it the same day you get it from the store—it doesn’t age well in your fridge. From there, keep things simple. Season dry aged beef with salt and pepper before cooking it in a cast-iron skillet until medium-rare. You don’t want to use fancy sauces or compound butters here that will mask the flavor of the very expensive beef.

Can you cook dry aged beef at home?

Dry Aged Beef can be prepared at home with care and patience, but it can get intense. You’ll need to go for a larger roast (like a rib eye roast or strip loin) because of their higher fat content. Then you need a place to store that roast — like a small fridge that’s set at 40°F. In the fridge you need to put a fan to circulate the air and find a way to regulate the humidity. That is much!

But there is a hack that can create a shortened version of dry-aged steak. It’s a fungus called koji – a mold that grows on rice and is responsible for making soy sauce, miso paste and sake. Take a bag (available on Amazon), add the grains to a blender, and coat a steak with the koji powder. Place the breaded steak on a wire rack in the fridge and leave uncovered for 48 hours. Then rinse the steak well to remove the koji coating, pat dry with a paper towel, and season with salt and pepper. As with dry-aged steaks, we recommend cooking your faux version over high heat for three to five minutes per side until medium-rare.

Next: Check out the types of steaks every chef should know about.

We conducted a five-day shelf life test in the refrigerator.

Butcher’s counter steak wrapped in plastic wrap then sealed with butcher paper and a rubber band A Pre® vacuum sealed steak

Each went in the fridge for 5 days. Check out what we discovered and why we chose to store our beef airtight and vacuum sealed.

Raw steak can be stored in your fridge for anywhere from 2 days to two weeks. It always depends on how it is packaged.

From the butcher counter, steaks can be wrapped in plastic wrap and butcher paper, then sealed with a rubber band or tape. Steaks often lie in the meat box all day long and are exposed to oxygen.

The presence of oxygen causes beef to be bright red in color. Why beef at the meat counter is usually bright red instead of deep red or purple is because it’s in constant contact with oxygen.

Next to the butcher counter of your grocery store is the pre-packaged meat department. Here you will find vacuum packed meat. Oxygen is removed from a steak during vacuum sealing, which is why it is not bright red, but deep red or purple.

Our beef at Pre® is vacuum packed. We have chosen to vacuum pack our meat to preserve freshness for our consumers. The cardboard backing of our packaging is 100% recyclable and the film we use is free of synthetic chemicals. In addition, we never use nitrate foil to improve meat color or gases to extend shelf life – vacuum sealing works perfectly.

Here are some of our favorite ways to cook steaks:

Where can I buy 100% grass-fed and finished beef?

Check out our store locator to find a store near you, or shop our beef online and at AmazonFresh.

Sometimes I get emails from readers saying something like, “You said one thing in article X, then a few years later, in article Y, you said almost the complete opposite. What is there? Don’t you believe in science? , and isn’t science concerned with facts?

There is only one science that does not contradict itself: the bad one. Science must be open to accepting and considering conflicting evidence and redefining “facts” by definition. Hell, if we weren’t allowed to form new theories and refute conclusions through further experiments, we’d still believe in crazy things like spontaneous generation, static universes, or even sautéing meat in juices. And where would we be today?

I mention this because a few weeks ago I went to great lengths to test and explain exactly why you can’t dry meat at home, no way, no way. Today I’m going to walk you through exactly how you can dry-age at home, how relatively easy it is, and how it can vastly improve the eating quality of your steaks and roasts to the point that they’re better than what you can buy at even the best gourmet supermarket .*

*And unlike many sources claiming similar results, I actually have the blind taste tests to prove it!

Now, before you go and call the National Committee of Good Science and send them to confiscate my calculator (by which I mean my head), let me first state that I stand by what I say in this article 100% wrote: Given that starting with individual steaks, dry aging at home is not possible, despite what some otherwise reputable sources have said in the past. The blind tasting showed that there was absolutely no discernible improvement in the eating quality of the steaks between the first day and the seventh day of such aging.

But we all know that single steaks aren’t professional dry aged meat, right? No, they start with whole subprimals — large chunks of meat with fully intact bones and caps of fat — and mature them uncovered in temperature, humidity, and air velocity controlled spaces designed to allow them to age for weeks or months without rotting. The question is, can we do this ourselves at home?

I got my hands on 80 pounds of prime bone-in, fat-capped beef ribs to get my answers.* Over the course of more than two months, I’ve aged them in nearly a dozen different ways in order to determine what works and what doesn’t and what matters. Here’s what I found.

*Special thanks to Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors for donating much of the fine beef used in this test.

The Purpose of Aging

How does aging work?

Good question! First, a quick overview of why you should age meat. Conventional wisdom cites three specific goals of dry aging meat, all of which help improve its flavor or texture.

Moisture loss could be a big one. A dry-aged cut of beef can lose up to about 30% of its original volume through water loss, which concentrates its flavor. At least that’s the theory. But is it true? (Cue dramatic foreboding music.)

could be an important one. A dry-aged cut of beef can lose up to about 30% of its original volume through water loss, which concentrates its flavor. At least that’s the theory. But is it true? (Cue dramatic foreshadowing music.) Tenderizing occurs when enzymes naturally present in meat break down some of the tougher muscle fibers and connective tissues. A well-seasoned steak should be noticeably more tender than a fresh steak. But is it?

occurs when enzymes naturally present in meat break down some of the tougher muscle fibers and connective tissues. A well-seasoned steak should be noticeably more tender than a fresh steak. But is it? Flavor change is caused by numerous processes, including enzymatic and bacterial action, along with the oxidation of fat and other fat-like molecules. Properly dry-aged meat develops deeply meaty, nutty, and almost cheesy flavors.

But is aged meat really better than fresh meat?

It depends. I had a panel of tasters test different aged meats and rank them on general preference, tenderness, and funkiness. Almost everyone who has tasted meat that has been aged for a few weeks – the period after which a certain level of tenderness has set in but has not yet developed a serious flavor – has preferred it to completely fresh meat.

On the other hand, people were more mixed when it came to meat that had been aged longer. Many preferred the more complex, cheese-like flavors that developed with meat aged between 30 and 45 days. Some even liked the ultra-funky flavors that developed in 45- to 60-day-old meat. Where you fall on that spectrum is a matter of experience. I personally prefer meat that’s aged up to 60 days, but beyond that it gets a bit too strong for me.

OK, I’m sold. Why would I want to make it at home when I can order it online or from my butcher?

Two reasons. First, bragging rights. How awesome is that dinner party going to be where you say to your friends, “Do you like that beef? I matured it myself for eight weeks”?

Second, it saves money. Lot of money. Aging meat takes time and space, and time and space cost money. These costs are passed on to the consumer. Well-aged meat can cost between 50% and 100% more than an equivalent piece of fresh meat. As long as you’re at home willing to forgo a corner of your fridge, or have an extra mini-fridge, the added expense is minimal.

You may have read that aside from the time and space it takes, a large part of the cost of cured meat is due to the amount of meat that is wasted – i.e. H. Meat that dries up and needs trimming. This isn’t as big of a factor as you think, and we’ll soon find out why.

Selection of meat for aging

Which piece of meat should I buy for aging?

To properly age meat, you need to choose a large cut that is best prepared using quick cooking methods. This makes the standard steakhouse cuts — the New York strip, rib steak, and porterhouse — the ideal cuts for aging. (For more information on the four high-end steaks you should know, click here.) The easiest to find (and my personal favorite) is the rib steak, which you get by cutting a prime rib between the bones into individual pieces cut steaks.

What is the minimum size I need to buy to properly mature? Can I mature a single steak?

Left individually “aged” steak; fresh steak on the right.

No, unfortunately you cannot mature individual steaks. (See more details on why not here.) You can wrap them in cheesecloth or paper towels, place them on a rack, and leave them in the fridge for about a week, but during that time no discernible level of texture or flavor changes will take place. Try aging them even longer and (assuming they don’t start to rot)* here’s what you get:

45 days individually dry aged rib steak.

*In my experience this can happen if the cheesecloth or paper towel holds moisture against the meat and you don’t have enough ventilation.

The meat is so dried out that it is completely inedible. After I cut away the dried and slightly moldy bits (perfectly normal for dry-aged meat), I was left with a slice of meat about half an inch thick. It was impossible to cook anything less than well done, making my effective yield a big fat zero.

The simple truth is that to dry age you need larger cuts of meat and you need to age them in the open air.

So what should I look out for with the larger cuts of meat?

Rib sections come in several different shapes, each with its own number designation.

The 103 is the most intact. It’s a whole rib section (that’s ribs six through 12 of the steer), along with a significant portion of the short ribs, the fully intact chine bones, and a large flap of fat and meat (called “heber meat” and not its). confused with the coveted Spinalis dorsi*), which covers the fleshy side. You’re unlikely to find this cut even if you ask the butcher.

is the most intact. It’s a whole rib section (that’s ribs six through 12 of the steer), along with a significant portion of the short ribs, the fully intact chine bones, and a large flap of fat and meat (called “heber meat” and not its). confused with the coveted Spinalis dorsi*), which covers the fleshy side. You’re unlikely to find this cut even if you ask the butcher. The 107 has been trimmed somewhat, with the short ribs trimmed short, sawing off some (but not all) of the chine bone and removing the outer cartilage. In this way, ribeyes are commonly sold to butcher shops and supermarkets where they can be further cut up.

was trimmed somewhat, with the short ribs trimmed short, some (but not all) of the chine bone sawed off, and the outer cartilage removed. In this way, ribeyes are commonly sold to butcher shops and supermarkets where they can be further cut up. The 109A is considered ready to roast and serve. The chine bone has been sawed off almost completely and the heber meat removed. The fat cap is put back on once the lifter meat is gone.

is considered ready for roasting and serving. The chine bone has been sawed off almost completely and the heber meat removed. The fat cap is put back on once the lifter meat is gone. The 109 Export is essentially identical to the 109A but the grease cap has been removed. This is the cut you’ll see on your Christmas table or at that fancy hotel buffet. The meat is only minimally protected on the outside of this section.

*The Spinalis, also known as the Ribeye Cap, is the tastiest cut of the cow!

I’ve aged a 107, a 109A, and a 109 Export in a 40°F Avanti mini fridge, which I placed a small table fan in to allow air to circulate (I had to cut a small notch in the weatherstrip around the door , so that the fan cable can be fed through) to simulate a dry ripening room on a small scale. I made no attempt to regulate the humidity, which fluctuated between 30 and 80% (higher at the beginning, lower with age).

I’ve found that the more protection you have, the better your end yield. Why is external protection important during meat aging? Because if you dry-age meat for a period of time, which is enough to make a difference, the outer layers become completely desiccated and need to be removed. The less protected the “good” meat is, the more of it you end up in the trash and trash. Here’s what happens when you try to age a 109 export:

See how much of that poor spinalis muscle has withered and dried up? I had to remove it completely before I could find meat to cook underneath. And that’s not meat you want to waste.

On the other hand, after removing the grease cap on a 109A, what is left is:

The fat cap effectively protects the meat from moisture loss, leaving a spinalis muscle that is 100% edible.

Trim off the fat a bit more, as did the cut surfaces, and here’s what we have:

The yield you get is basically the same as a normal sized roast. If you think of your prime rib as a long cylinder, you’ll only end up losing flesh on both ends. The fat cap and bones fully protect the sides.

What Causes Flavor Change?

Aged meat does not lose much moisture. But wait a minute, haven’t I read that aged steaks can lose up to 30% of their weight in water? Isn’t that one of the reasons aged steak is so expensive?

Don’t believe everything you read. That 30% figure is deceptive at best and a blatant lie at worst. Yes, it is true that if you dry age an untrimmed prime rib with bone and fat cap, you will lose about 30% of its total weight over the course of about 21 to 30 days. What they don’t tell you is that the weight is lost almost entirely from the outer layers – the part of the meat that’s going to be trimmed away anyway, regardless of whether it’s aged or not.

Have you never noticed that the aged ribeye steaks in the butcher’s display case aren’t 30% smaller than the fresh ribeyes in the display case? Or that bone-in aged steaks don’t stretch and detach from their bones—I mean, the bones don’t shrink, either, do they?

The fact is that the edible part of a mature prime rib is pretty much identical to that of a fresh prime rib, with the exception of the cut surfaces that need to be trimmed off.

Okay, let’s say I’m convinced of it. Does that mean the whole idea that “meat flavor is concentrated in an aged steak due to dehydration” is also wrong?

I’m afraid so. It’s a great idea in theory, but several facts don’t support it.

First, there’s a simple visual check: a trimmed steak cut from an aged cut of beef is pretty much the same size as a trimmed steak cut from a fresh cut of beef.

I also measured the density of differently aged beef versus completely fresh meat. To do this, I cut out pieces of meat of the same weight from the middle of ribeyes that have been aged to different degrees, making sure that large swaths of fat are excluded. Then I dipped each of these pieces of meat in water and measured their displacement. What I found was that meat aged for 21 days displaced about 4% less liquid than completely fresh meat. A slight increase, but not by much. Meat aged up to 60 days displaced 5% less overall – showing that the majority of the moisture loss occurs in the first three weeks.

“That is, the less aged the meat was, the more moisture was expelled.”

Moreover, these density differences disappeared completely after the meat was cooked. That is, the less aged the meat was, the more moisture it released. Why is this? One of the side effects of aging is the breakdown of meat protein and connective tissue. This will make the meat more tender and less likely to contract during cooking. Less contraction = less moisture loss.

Finally, in many cases, 100% fresh meat lost even more liquid than dry-aged meat.

Finally, a simple taste test was the nail in the coffin: Meat that had been dry aged for 21 days (the period when the greatest change in density of inner meat occurs) was indistinguishable from the taste of fresh meat. The improvements only concerned the texture. It was only between the 30 and 60 day marks that real perceptible changes in taste occurred, and during this time there was essentially no change in intrinsic density. Thus, the loss of moisture is not associated with a change in taste.

Why doesn’t meat that’s been aged lose moisture after the first few weeks?

It’s a matter of permeability. As meat loses moisture, its muscle fibers become increasingly tightly packed, making it increasingly difficult for moisture beneath the surface to escape further. After the first few weeks, the outer layer of meat is so dense and tough that it is virtually impervious to moisture loss.

Look here:

You can see that the layer of dried meat is as thick in a cut of beef aged for four weeks as it is in a cut aged for over eight weeks. No matter how long I aged the steak, the waste was about the same—just about an inch from the outer cut surfaces.

If it’s not moisture loss, what factors affect the flavor of aged beef?

A few things. The first is the enzymatic breakdown of muscle proteins into shorter fragments, altering their flavor in desirable ways. But this effect is entirely secondary to the far more important change that occurs when fat is exposed to oxygen. It is the oxidation of fat as well as bacterial action on the meat’s surfaces that causes the most profound flavor change – the funkiness you get in meat aged over 30 days.

It’s true that much of this unconventional flavor is concentrated in the outermost parts of the meat – the parts that are mostly trimmed away – and for this reason it is extremely important that you do it when getting the most out of your aged meat want to serve it with the bone attached. Unlike the fat cap, which is completely removed and discarded, the outer portions of the bones still contain tons of oxidized fat and affected meat. The flavors of this meat reach your nostrils as you eat, transforming your entire experience. Aged steak lovers also appreciate the spinalis (again, the outer cap of meat on a ribeye) for its richer, more aged flavor.

setup aging

What kind of setup do I really need to mature steaks at home? how easy is it

It is very simple and requires practically no special equipment. There are just a few things you need:

fridge space. The best thing you can use is your own mini fridge that you can keep closed so the smell of meat doesn’t permeate the rest of your food and vice versa. It can get a little… powerful. The mini-fridge I kept next to my desk filled the office with the aroma of aging meat if I peeked in for just a moment or two. Likewise, aged meats can absorb flavors from your refrigerator. Unless your fridge is odor free, a mini fridge is your best option.

The best thing you can use is your own mini fridge that you can keep closed so the smell of meat doesn’t permeate the rest of your food and vice versa. It can get a little… powerful. The mini-fridge I kept next to my desk filled the office with the aroma of aging meat if I peeked in for just a moment or two. Likewise, aged meats can absorb flavors from your refrigerator. Unless your fridge is odor free, a mini fridge is your best option. A fan. To encourage surface drying and even aging, you’ll want to put a fan in your fridge to keep the air circulating. This works similar to a convection oven and promotes more even cooling and humidity all around. I used a standard table fan. To get it in there, I cut a small notch in the fridge door seal – just big enough for the cord to fit through.

To encourage surface drying and even aging, you’ll want to put a fan in your fridge to keep the air circulating. This works similar to a convection oven and promotes more even cooling and humidity all around. I used a standard table fan. To get it in there, I cut a small notch in the fridge door seal – just big enough for the cord to fit through. A rack. Your meat needs to be elevated on a rack. I tried aging a piece of meat on a plate and right on the bottom of the fridge. Bad idea. The part that came in contact with the slab was not properly dehydrated and eventually rotted. Aging on a wire shelf or directly on the wire shelf of a refrigerator is the way to go.

Your meat needs to be elevated on a rack. I tried aging a piece of meat on a plate and right on the bottom of the fridge. Bad idea. The part that came in contact with the slab was not properly dehydrated and eventually rotted. Aging on a wire shelf or directly on the wire shelf of a refrigerator is the way to go. Time. Patience, little grasshopper. Your patience will be rewarded with the steak of your dreams.

But what about moisture? I’ve heard that humidity needs to be kept high [or low, or medium, or nonexistent, or et cetera]? Where should it be and how can I control it?

The three different refrigerators I’ve aged meat in all had different moisture levels. The mini-fridge was constantly high – about 80% throughout the aging process (I kept it there by leaving a small bowl of water in the back). A piece was left in the office fridge, which was periodically opened and closed throughout the process. Its humidity ranged from 30 to 80% without regularity. Finally, my fridge at home had a lower humidity level, closer to 50% at all times (similar to ambient room humidity).

Guess what? All three produced excellent aged beef.

And it makes sense. As my tests above show, the outer layers of the beef become almost impervious to moisture after the first few weeks. It really doesn’t make much of a difference how humid or dry the environment is; the inner flesh is protected. That’s good news for home dry agers!

Timed coordination

OK, I’m almost convinced. How long should I let my meat mature?

I had tasters taste steaks that had been aged for different periods. To ensure all steaks were fairly ranked and to minimize differences in actual cooking, I cooked them in a sous vide water bath to 127°F before finishing them with a cast iron skillet and burner combo. Steaks were tasted completely blind.

Results indicated that aging time was largely a matter of personal preference, but here’s a rough guide to what happens over the course of 60 days:

14 days or less: Not much point. No change in taste; very little detectable change in tenderness. Very few people preferred this steak.

Not much point. No change in taste; very little detectable change in tenderness. Very few people preferred this steak. 14 to 28 days: Especially at the higher end of this scale, the steak begins to become noticeably more tender. Still, no major taste changes. That’s about the age of a steak at your average high-end steakhouse.

Especially at the higher end of this scale, the steak becomes noticeably more tender. Still, no major taste changes. That’s about the age of a steak at your average high-end steakhouse. 28 to 45 days: Some real funkiness is beginning to manifest. At 45 days, there are distinct notes of blue or cheddar cheese, and the flesh is noticeably juicier and juicier. Most tasters preferred 45-day aged steak to all others.

Some real funkiness is starting to manifest. At 45 days, there are distinct notes of blue or cheddar cheese, and the flesh is noticeably juicier and juicier. Most tasters preferred 45-day aged steak to all others. 45 to 60 days: Extremely intense aromas develop. A handful of tasters enjoyed the richness of this highly aged meat, although some found it too much for more than a bite or two. Ed Levine said of the 60-day steak, “I may have reached my aging threshold.” Rarely does one find a restaurant that serves such a well-aged steak.*

*I only know of two in New York: Minetta Tavern, which has an 80-day steak, and Eleven Madison Park, which serves 120-day aged steaks as part of its tasting menu.

I still have some questions!

What about wet aging? What is it and does it work?

Wet aging is easy: put your beef in a Cryovac bag and let it sit on the shelf (or more likely on refrigerated trucks if shipping across the country) for a few weeks. Tell your customers it’s aged; sell it at a premium.

The problem is that wet aging has nothing to do with dry aging.

First of all, there is no fat oxidation in wet aging, which means no unusual flavors are developed. Minimal flavor change will occur from enzymatic reactions, but they are, well, minimal. In addition, wet aging prevents excess serum and meat juices from running off. Tasters often report that wet-aged meat tastes “sour” or “serumy.”

Wet-aging can offer the same softening and moisture-retaining benefits as dry-aging, but that’s about it. In reality, wet aging is a product of laziness and greed. It’s easy to let the retailer’s cryopreserved bag of beef sit around for a week before the bag is opened so that it can be labeled ‘cured’ and sold for a higher price. i don’t buy it If you’re selling “aged” meat, be sure to ask if it’s dry-aged or wet-aged. If they don’t know the answer or aren’t willing to share it, it’s best to assume the worst.

The other disadvantage of wet aging: it cannot be carried out for as long as dry aging. It seems counterintuitive considering that a wet aged cut of meat is largely protected by the outside environment. But if even a hint of harmful anaerobic bacteria gets into that bag, the flesh in its casing will rot and give no indication that this has happened until you open it.

My sincere apologies to everyone who was in the office the day I opened this packet of rotten wet-aged beef. As Robyn described it, it smelled like “rotten excrement that makes a poo.”

Yes, it was that bad.

What about those fancy “dry aging bags” I’ve read so much about?

Like me, you must have seen those dry aging bag videos floating around the internet. The idea is that you seal a cut of beef in some sort of special bag that allows you to safely age it at home. Supposedly it helps with aging by letting moisture out but not letting air in.

I ordered a few kits to test this out myself. Before I even started aging, there were problems. I went through an entire $25.50 set of three pouches, none of which were able to form a tight seal with my standard FoodSaver vacuum sealer (and yes I followed the directions to a T) . After ordering another kit (and spending a total of $51 on them), I finally got a single bag to seal, only to find the next day that it was in fact not sealed properly and had leaked:

I decided to let it go anyway, squeezing out as much air as possible and trying to ensure good contact between the bag and the surface of the meat as the instructions recommended.

After aging it for several weeks, I unpacked the roast and found the following:

Not the most promising sight, but I dutifully removed the mildew, trimmed the roast and cut steaks from it. The taste tests I ran showed no significant difference between steak aged in one of these pouches and steak aged outdoors. Where I felt a difference was in my wallet, which was now $51 lighter than when I started.

I’ll pass on the special equipment.

Note: For more thoughts on the UMAi Dry Bag, check out this informative post from Go Lb. Salt Blog. If the analysis here is correct, it’s probably a good thing that the pouch didn’t perform as advertised and instead allowed air to come into contact with my flesh. I mean don’t we want the fat to oxidize?

Fast and dirty

Okay, just give me the tl;dr version. How do I age my steak?

Step 1: Buy a prime rib. Make sure it’s bone-in, preferably with the dorsal bone still attached and the fat cap fully intact. If you buy from the butcher, ask him not to cut it at all. A decent butcher will not charge you full price as they make money selling you the extra fat and bones.

Make sure it’s bone-in, preferably with the dorsal bone still attached and the fat cap fully intact. If you buy from the butcher, ask him not to cut it at all. A decent butcher will not charge you full price as they make money selling you the extra fat and bones. Step 2: Place the meat on a wire rack in a refrigerator. Preferably a dedicated mini fridge that you put a table fan set too low in, with a small notch in the door panel to allow the cord to come out. Set the temperature to 36 to 40°F.

Preferably a dedicated mini fridge that you put a table fan set too low in, with a small notch in the door panel to allow the cord to come out. Set the temperature to 36 to 40°F. Step 3: Wait. Wait between four and eight weeks, turning the meat occasionally to encourage even maturation. It will start smelling. That is normal.

Wait between four and eight weeks, turning the meat occasionally to encourage even maturation. It will start smelling. That is normal. Step 4: Trim. For a step-by-step slideshow of the process, see the slideshow above.

For a step-by-step slideshow of the process, see the slideshow above. Step 5: Cooking. (See above or below for some recipe links.)

(See above or below for some recipe links.) Step 6: ???

Step 7: Profit.

did you all get it? In, say, 60 days, there will be a pop quiz.

And you want to know how best to prepare those amazing steaks that you have produced? Please!

Continue reading

Edit: A lot of people have asked for photos of the drying setup. I don’t have photos when the meat was in, unfortunately, but here’s a photo showing the fan placement and basic layout. It’s damn easy.

Get the recipes:

You can always find tutorials on the internet on how dry aged meat can mature in the refrigerator. This may be an alternative in individual cases, but it does not replace the maturing refrigerator, as it carries a high risk of germs infecting the meat and making it inedible. In order to reach the right level of maturity, the dry-aged beef not only needs cool, but also clean air – and that is only possible in a special dry-aging refrigerator such as the DRY AGER.

Not only cool, but also constant

For successful dry aging of meat you need low temperatures. A range between +1.5°C and +2°C is considered ideal, which can also be maintained to within a tenth of the corresponding temperature. These temperatures cannot be reached with a normal refrigerator that has a thermostat-controlled system, even electronically controlled refrigerators have a fluctuation range of many degrees, which prevents professional dry-aging.

The right climate for ripening

In addition to the temperature, the right and exact humidity is also crucial for dry aging. Optimal air circulation, tailored to the meat, is an important factor that cannot be achieved with a refrigerator. Should mold form, this can very quickly make the meat inedible and even hazardous to health. Therefore, a high-quality ripening refrigerator is also a climate cabinet. Without a water connection, the humidity is controlled, sterilized and unnecessary moisture is removed and returned to the air circulation, a complicated process that makes it possible to produce deliciously fragrant dry-aged beef.

The ideal technique

The developers of the DRY AGER not only understand the tricky task of creating the perfect climate in the refrigerator, they also know how to keep it constant. The DRY AGER FRIDGE is equipped with the ideal technology to fulfill this task. The electrical temperature control works in 0.1 degree increments and compensates for the difference in outside temperatures. The technical highlight is the Humicontrol – the air circulation system. It does not have to be connected to the water network and can be regulated in a range between 60 and 90 percent. The air in the maturing refrigerator is kept clean by a legally protected integrated DX-AirReg technology with activated carbon filter and sterilization box. In order to keep the hygienic requirements stable, the Dry.Aging refrigerator needs the right care and maintenance.

A good dry-ager can do more than dry-aged beef

The optimized, continuous climate requirements are not only suitable for dry aged meat. Sausages and ham can also be matured perfectly. The Dry Ager is not only a maturing cabinet, but also a climate cabinet. Fresh herbs have a longer shelf life and fruit and vegetables are sterilized and stored at a constant temperature. In addition, the DRY AGER optics are excellent, which the award at the German Design Award 2018 proves.

Refrigerators are generally dry environments. Because of this, certain foods — particularly leafy greens and other delicate produce — tend to dry out and wilt over time, especially if not kept in a crisper drawer.

However, there are a number of factors that make it difficult to determine the average humidity level inside a refrigerator, including:

Fridge Contents: Certain foods affect the humidity in your fridge. For example, an open container of soup that is still warm will give off its moisture content as vapor, increasing the humidity.

Certain foods affect the humidity in your refrigerator. For example, an open container of soup that is still warm will give off its moisture content as vapor, increasing the humidity.

Door opening: If you recently opened the refrigerator door, the humidity is higher than usual. This is because warm, humid air has entered the main cooling compartment. Most refrigerator models are designed to capture this moisture as condensation and drain it from inside the refrigerator.

If you recently opened the refrigerator door, the humidity is higher than usual. This is because warm, humid air has entered the main cooling compartment. Most refrigerator models are designed to capture this moisture as condensation and drain it from inside the refrigerator.

Relative Humidity: Humidity is actually a measure of how much moisture there is in the atmosphere compared to how much moisture there could possibly be at that temperature. For example, 50% humidity at 35°F is actually much less humidity than 50% humidity at 70°F because warm air can hold much more moisture. The humidity in your refrigerator is always proportional to the internal temperature, which fluctuates by several degrees over the course of a day.

The most important thing to know is where to store certain types of food – and what to do if you suspect you have relatively high humidity levels in your fridge.

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